Egyptian authorities announced on Sunday March 26 the discovery of 2,000 mummified rams’ heads in the Temple of Ramesses II.
It is an unexpected discovery made by American archaeologists from the University of New York at the Abydos site, 550 km south of Cairo. Thousands of Ptolemaic ram heads have been found in the temple of Ramses II.
American archaeologists have also found mummies of sheep, dogs, goats, mongooses, cows and gazelles, Egyptian authorities said.
“Offerings,” according to sameh iskandar
According to the Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Antiquities Council, Mostafa Waziri, these discoveries will shed light on the Temple of Ramesses II and the events that took place there between its construction under the sixth dynasty of the Old Kingdom (between 2374 and 2140 BC .) and the Ptolemaic period (323 to 30 BC).
For Professor Sameh Iskandar, head of the American archaeologists’ delegation, these rams’ heads are “offerings” that point to “a cult dedicated to Ramses II celebrated 1,000 years after his death”.
Local authorities announced that archaeological discoveries have been made regularly lately.